Conversion of glucose to lactic acid derivatives with mesoporous Sn‐MCM‐41 and microporous titanosilicates

Abstract

BACKGROUND The production of value‐added products from biomass has acquired increasing importance due to the high worldwide demand for chemicals and energy, uncertain petroleum availability and the necessity of finding environmentally friendly processes. This paper reports work on the synthesis of several catalysts for the conversion of glucose to methyl lactate. RESULTS A MCM‐41 type mesoporous material containing tin (Si/Sn = 55) was developed with a uniform ordered mesoporous structure, high specific surface area and high pore volume. Sn‐MCM‐41 was tested in three consecutive catalytic cycles to evaluate its reusability giving methyl lactate yields of 43%, 41% and 39%, in each cycle. The slightly reduction in activity could be explained by the reduction in the accessibility of active centers due to the adsorption of reaction products and structural changes. Microporous titanosilicates and MFI‐type zeolite ZSM‐5 showed a lower catalytic performance, but exfoliated materials gave higher yields of methyl lactate and pyruvaldehyde dimethyl acetal than their respective layered precursors. CONCLUSIONS Sn‐MCM‐41 material showed good results in the conversion of glucose to methyl lactate over three catalytic cycles and exfoliated materials facilitated the access of glucose to the catalytic sites and fast desorption of products. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Lewis Acid and Base Catalysis of YNbO4 Toward Aqueous‐Phase Conversion of Hexose and Triose Sugars to Lactic Acid in Water

“…Table S1 summarizes representative results for the chemocatalytic conversion of glucose to LA and alkyl lactate . Homogeneous catalysts such as Lewis acidic metal salts that contain Al 3+ , Pb 2+ , and Sn 2+ and a Brønsted base (Ba(OH) 2 ) are selective catalysts for LA production .…”

“…Although LA can be selectively formed, even at room temperature, in a strongly basic Ba(OH) 2 solution (the maximum yield of 95.4 %), this process produces barium lactate as obtained in biological fermentation, which is inevitably accompanied by acidification treatment and the formation of salt waste. Lewis acid sites on Sn‐containing zeolites and mesoporous silicas were reported to be effective for the one‐pot synthesis of LA and alkyl lactates from glucose . However, the pH of the reaction mixture decreases with an increase in the LA concentration, which causes severe leaching of the active metal species from silicate network and a loss of the original activity in reuse experiments.…”

Fe-Doped SnO2catalysts with both BA and LA sites: facile preparation and biomass carbohydrates conversion to methyl lactate MLA

“…During the process, hydrouoric acid was needed to form hardened gel, and the synthesis took place in autoclave with high pressure for 10 to 20 days to achieve high crystallinity. To overcome this drawback, Murillo et al 24 reported a MCM-41 type mesoporous materials containing tin (Si/Sn ¼ 55) with high specic surface area and high pore volume. The yields of MLA converted from glucose was 43%.…”

Catalytic Upgrading of Biomass‐Derived Sugars with Acidic Nanoporous Materials: Structural Role in Carbon‐Chain Length Variation

“…As high as 44 % yield of ML was obtained over Sn‐WMM at 160 °C within a reaction time of 20 h (Table , entry 1), possibly due to its high Lewis acidity of Sn 4+ . Incorporation of Sn into mesoporous silicates (i.e., MCM‐41) was also reported for the conversion of glucose into ML, giving 43 % yield of ML at 160 °C for 20 h (Table , entry 2) . The results suggested that a larger pore size might play a positive role in increasing the yield of ML.…”